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Re/Thinking Reflective Practice

LARK Circles Launch & Reflective Practice Webinar

30 May 2023

By Michael Dunne, PhD

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The University of Sydney

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We acknowledge the tradition of custodianship and law of the Country on which the University of Sydney campuses stand. We pay our respects to those who have cared and continue to care for Country.

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Re/thinking Reflection

Foundations

The What and Why

Supports

How to support reflection

Reflecting

Reflecting as a meaningful professional activity

30 May 2023

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The University of Sydney

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What is reflection?

The thinking and feeling you do before/during/after experiences to explore and gain a new understanding and appreciation.

A generic term for intellectual and affective activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to [gain] a new understanding and appreciation”

(Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985)

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The University of Sydney

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Reflection is…

Dynamic

Will evolve pending how you use it and the outcomes you achieve

Not necessarily intuitive

Influenced by your skills, the context and reflective content

Used for developing insight and skills in your understandings of an experience or time

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Why can you reflect?

Help build your awareness and learn from experiences

Build reflective thinking and analysis behaviours to become reflexive

Identify and consider your next step in work

Help you manage complexity or ambiguity

Develop your critical thinking skills

Develop a better understanding or rationale for your standpoint at work

Connect theory with practice

Regular and ongoing learning

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When can you reflect?

Surprise!

Something fails to, or unexpectedly does meet your expectations

Managing complexity or ambiguity

grey-zone

Professional Development

Regular scheduled learning

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The University of Sydney

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Supporting reflection

Honesty and openness to feedback
No fear of repercussions

Safety

Promote individualised practice

Supervision

Stimulate and guide reflection

Mentorship

Emotional & Intellectual

Support

Time to practice

Time

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The University of Sydney

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Supporting Others to Reflect

Establish why and how reflection is important for your context

Balancing acknowledgement, evaluation and prompting feedback to help prioritise learning how to reflect

Be realistic, reflection is a lifelong learning skill that can develop across time. Supporting reflection as a positive Self- and Co-Regulated Learning strategy can have lasting effects.

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The University of Sydney

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Reflection Guides & Cycles

https://libguides.cam.ac.uk/reflectivepracticetoolkit

Reflective Cycles/Guides
ERA Cycle
Driscoll’s What Model (What, So What, Now What)
SOAP Guide for Critical Reflection (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan)
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
Gibb’s Reflective Cycle

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Using the Gibbs Cycle

Description

Feelings

Evaluation

Analysis

Conclusion

Action Plan

What happened?

describe an experience that concerned, challenged or surprised you

What were you thinking and feeling during the experience (did this have an influence)?

What went well and what would you do differently next time?

What factors influenced your experience (other people, your beliefs, values, assumptions?)

What did I learn from this experience?... Why does this matter?

How, when and with whom would you implement your plan?

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The University of Sydney

So how can you use the Gibbs Cycle to support your reflection or your facilitation of another person’s reflection?

This example offers an introduction into questions you might use to explore each stage of the reflective process.

The amount of time or thinking you do on each stage is up to you. You don’t need to use each stage, but it is recommended

Description –

This stage allows you to re-experience the moment, describing events, actions that occurred beforehand, in the moment or afterwards may refresh or identify moments for further exploration later in the cycle.

The depth of the description will be influenced by the familiarity of the experience with the other person.

Feelings –

Feelings can inform actions. Did they influence actions/thoughts/behaviours in this experience. If so how?

Evaluation –

Using points you’ve identified in the previous two stages, where there things that you did well? Would you do anything differently next time… if so why?

Important to balance the positive with the critical evaluation from a motivation perspective. Focusing to much on either side may influence the effectiveness of the reflection (positive) or your motivation to reflect at all.

Analysis –

An important and often over-looked stage of reflection. At this stage you’re asking questions about the frames of reference (influences) i.e. beliefs, values, assumptions. For example why is this goal important to you or another person? Were beliefs challenged by what you identified in the evaluation? Do your values and the client’s align. If not, why and does that influence how you work together for success?

Conclusion –

What did I learn from this experience… Look through notes from the previous stages. Anything stand out.. If so, why is it standing out in this instance and for you?

Action Plan –

Implementing learnings to support intrinsic motivation and enhancements to practice or outcomes

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Using the Gibbs Cycle – Key Points

Questioning (‘wh’ questions e.g. ‘why, what, how’)

Consider your and others’ values, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions

Remember the supporting factors

(Safety, supervision, mentorship, time, support)

Dynamic continuum of practice

Ongoing use

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Key Points

Reflection is dynamic.

Outcomes and practice can vary each time you reflect

You can use reflection to develop a considered next step

You don’t need to achieve ‘the’ answer for it to be meaningful. Just the next step.

There are many ways and reasons to reflect

Do what works for you at a given point in time and place

Support others to practice

Use questions and comments that encourage further consideration

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The University of Sydney

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Questions?

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Reflective Questioning Prompts

Aim	Question
Support thinking about alternative perspectives	-How was your experience the same or different to others?
Support self-exploration of factors that may have influenced student thinking or actions	-What factors influenced your experience (other people, your beliefs, values, assumptions?)
Encourage comparative thought about the actions of others and potential reasons for their thinking	-How else would other people think about it?
Prompt that seeks to safely challenge reasoning or encourage thinking for future experiences	-How do you know this outcome is accurate??
Encouraging self-awareness about strengths and factors to develop	-Discuss what you learned about yourself through this experience?
Encourages increase scope of thinking / broader consideration of outcomes	-What are the extremes of application?

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Thank You

Michael Dunne, PhD�Michael.Dunne@Health.nsw.gov.au